ms. pac man scoring/ideas/thoughts (is this better?)

[negative1]

ok i put up several new high scores for ms pac man
and clones:

ms pac-man (fast)
score: 762560

3men+1extra .. /only got 200k with first 2, then made it 600k with next.. ended on final empty screen/ no .nvram file, but use no sound for playback ../ keyboard for movement

i got to the 'end' where the maze turns invisible,

after that when you die,

it goes back to the demo, but mspacman
moves diagonally really really fast through
the board..

[negative1]

i don't think that matters, its too easy on fast anyways,
so why would allowing you to change it make it any easier?

I think it matters tons. I lost most of my men from blowing a turn from moving so fast. It limits some approaches you can do on certain boards because the turns are just too difficult at fast. If you were allowed to let go of the button and move slow, then you could let go for a second so you slowdown to go around a tough turn then repress the button to go fast again. For me that would make the game tons easier. You could also let go of the fast button to wiggle better or just change the timing for certain moves which would help you clear the boards even easier than if you stay fast all the time. Wiggling in fast mode is difficult on a keyboard.

I think any game score submitted using that strategy should be DQ'd cuz it isn't the same as playing it purely "fast". To me fast means 100% fast, not 99% fast with some occasional slowdowns here and there.

2) if you just want a high score, forget about going for points,
and just save your men for later screens, and go for the
endurance record..

I do both. I normally have around 200-220k when I reach the boards where they don't change anymore...and usually have only lost 1 man.

ms. pac man is pretty boring, so its hard to concentrate
on the really long games, i usually just give up and die
at a convenient score..

like in the 600k scores..

Are you referring to mspac-fast here or regular speed? If regular speed let's see it!

Why quit at 600k? You should go for trying to get to the kill-screen! I think if someone could hit 1 million even in fast mode it would be a good accomplishment as no one has hit 1 million in that game regardless of speed.

Your 600+k score for mschamp-sz is quite good. I hope you didn't decide to just kill off that game. I haven't even been able to get 300k with super zola yet. I'll likely break 300k on that soon, but I actually have gotten higher using mschamp-ce...which is weird cuz the sz boards are easier than the ce boards. hehe I have only played super zola a few times though which is part of it. I have played "ce" a lot.

[negative1]

I think it matters tons. I lost most of my men from blowing a turn from moving so fast. It limits some approaches you can do on certain boards because the turns are just too difficult at fast. If you were allowed to let go of the button and move slow, then you could let go for a second so you slowdown to go around a tough turn then repress the button to go fast again. For me that would make the game tons easier. You could also let go of the fast button to wiggle better or just change the timing for certain moves which would help you clear the boards even easier than if you stay fast all the time. Wiggling in fast mode is difficult on a keyboard.

ok, that makes some sense..but sometimes, your hand gets
tired (mine did), and i'm sure i let go of the speed button
on ms pac man(plus)...so how can you enforce that?

i don't think its possible to enforce that..and it's hard to
verify..

ms. pac man is pretty boring, so its hard to concentrate
on the really long games, i usually just give up and die
at a convenient score..

like in the 600k scores..

Are you referring to mspac-fast here or regular speed? If regular speed let's see it!

Why quit at 600k? You should go for trying to get to the kill-screen! I think if someone could hit 1 million even in fast mode it would be a good accomplishment as no one has hit 1 million in that game regardless of speed.

i was referring to any fast version..yes i quit...(but not on the 760k
game)..because my hand was getting tired, and it was just to
boring...i don't think 1million is possible, because you can't
consistently get 2k/5k bonuses on every screen..

Your 600+k score for mschamp-sz is quite good. I hope you didn't decide to just kill off that game. I haven't even been able to get 300k with super zola yet. I'll likely break 300k on that soon, but I actually have gotten higher using mschamp-ce...which is weird cuz the sz boards are easier than the ce boards. hehe I have only played super zola a few times though which is part of it. I have played "ce" a lot.

well, the sz-boards are exactly the same same as the regular
ms pac man..so that wasn't any problem, and you have the
time limit, which makes it a little bit harder..

but at least the ce-boards are different at first, and are harder
for me get through, but once you do that, its the same for
ms pac man plus, and attack..

later

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[LN2]

yeah but in super zola you move even faster for some boards than you do in mspacman-fast.

This makes control and certain moves even more difficult.

Another note on letting go of the speed button:

Each game at least 1 of my 4 men is lost to just running into the back of a monster. If I let go of the speed button to slowdown, then I can totally avoid that. That's just another reason it shouldn't be allowed.

I agree it gets tiring of holding the button down. That where you can bind it to a different key and maybe sit a big marble or something small but heavy enough to hold the key down for you!!!

It's obvious though as quickly as you progressed from getting 200k in the fast versions the first couple games but then quickly got to 600k then to 762k getting to the kill screen you obviously have a lot better control than I do...unless you aren't moving fast 100% of the time. Only in mspacpls-fast do you have to hold any button to move fast. All the other ones you can set the dip switch so you don't have to hold any key.

You likely know this though. I want to get to that kill screen in ms.pac. That's definitely one of my goals. I think 42 boards is the furthest I have gotten on any of those and that was on mschamp-ce!!!....the toughest board set of any of them for the later boards.

[negative1]

yeah but in super zola you move even faster for some boards than you do in mspacman-fast.

This makes control and certain moves even more difficult.

i agree, but once you get used to the really fast speed,
the 'slower' speed is a lot easier..

Another note on letting go of the speed button:

Each game at least 1 of my 4 men is lost to just running into the back of a monster. If I let go of the speed button to slowdown, then I can totally avoid that. That's just another reason it shouldn't be allowed.

I agree it gets tiring of holding the button down. That where you can bind it to a different key and maybe sit a big marble or something small but heavy enough to hold the key down for you!!!

well, i'm trying to use a different key for ms pac attack(fast),

but anyways, is this something that can be put in a poll?
i'm not sure anyone else is affected...i think galaga has
a fast shoot option, but that's about it..

It's obvious though as quickly as you progressed from getting 200k in the fast versions the first couple games but then quickly got to 600k then to 762k getting to the kill screen you obviously have a lot better control than I do...unless you aren't moving fast 100% of the time. Only in mspacpls-fast do you have to hold any button to move fast. All the other ones you can set the dip switch so you don't have to hold any key.

for all games that use the dip switch, i used that,

the only game that i didn't use it, was ms pac attack (fast)..

You likely know this though. I want to get to that kill screen in ms.pac. That's definitely one of my goals. I think 42 boards is the furthest I have gotten on any of those and that was on mschamp-ce!!!....the toughest board set of any of them for the later boards.

yes, thats a good goal..

heres a picture (made using the skip level feature in mame)..



later

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[LN2]

well, i'm trying to use a different key for ms pac attack(fast),

but anyways, is this something that can be put in a poll?
i'm not sure anyone else is affected...i think galaga has
a fast shoot option, but that's about it..

You don't need a key for ms pac attack-fast. Ms. pac plus is the only ms pac variant where you need to press the key to go fast. For all the others if you set the speedup cheat dip switch to on then you are always fast...no button needed.

I don't think any poll is needed cuz fast means to have the speedup cheat dip switch setting on meaning you move fast 100% of the time. ms pac pls is the only one a tad different where that doesn't work for some reason so the key press is still needed.

I have a handful of new runs for mspacpls-fast and not made much progress versus the first time I tried it. My fingers get fatigued and lazy to make the turns well. I'm great the first 15-20 boards but then I start making control mistakes.

I have found after a game my fingers are really cold which might be part of the issue. I start a game my fingers are nice and warm and limber but with my hand up on the desk to the keyboard not moving other than the fingers after a while it gets cold so it stiffens up some. On the early parts of the game during the intermissions I blow on my hand some hoping it gets it a little bit warmer. Maybe I should have a nice mug of hot water nearby so between every board or even during a board get them in a sit spot I can hold the mug for 30 seconds and that would help.

[negative1]

You don't need a key for ms pac attack-fast. Ms. pac plus is the only ms pac variant where you need to press the key to go fast. For all the others if you set the speedup cheat dip switch to on then you are always fast...no button needed.

yeah, i meant that..

i get all those crazy bootleg names
mixed up...

good luck on getting the high
scores, maybe you should turn
up the heat in the room..

by the way, i always pause the game every hour
or so, because i don't want my hands cramping
up..

later

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[QRS]

Remeber that pressing the pausebutton is not allowed in recordings that you upload at marp. Also the button that slows down pacman/ms pacman etc in the speedup versions are not allowed.

I´m not saying that you used those two buttons, it was only a hint in case you did not know

Other than that.. great scores guys!

Regards

QRS

[LN2]

by the way, i always pause the game every hour
or so, because i don't want my hands cramping
up..

If I paused the game after an hour and took a break to let my hands rest and warm them up by washing in warm water etc. then I likely could return and do that a few times and reach the kill-screen myself. As I stated before my hands cramp up so I just don't have the endurance to do it physically with my hands plus the mental aspect of having to think so clearly as you clear the boards. After an hour your brain starts making mistakes. You giving it a bit of a rest brings you back fresh.

As QRS stated pausing isn't allowed. You wouldn't be able to pause the arcade game so pausing the mame emulation isn't allowed so your play is more like the actual arcade play...at least I think that's the concept behind it.

Legally, you could get in a sit spot so the monsters loop around and take up to 5 minutes each hour to "rest" then return to the game without pausing it. Obviously you couldn't take any breaks for the super zola-champion edition mschamp variants as they have the 1 minute time limit each level. If you are pausing those after playing so many screens that gives you a big advantage versus others playing it as intended..without pausing.

the real skill to those in fast mode isn't so much your skill at the game, although that definitely helps to a significant degree, but your endurance and ability to control ms pac and clear the boards.

In doing runs of pacman and jrpac and ms pac I have yet to even break my personal high scores playing those games at regular speed when playing at fast speed! For many boards, especially pacman the regular speed is actually easier for me cuz of timing issues plus the fact your fingers don't get all worn out so quickly.

How high in score have you gotten without any pause or rest?

AFter I do a run near 300k if I just immediately try and play another game of it I'm lucky if I can even reach the boards where there is no blue time cuz of hand and brain fatigue...while when fresh I reach those boards losing zero or 1 man.

[AL]

try 18 hours on Track + Field in arcades , and you'll know all about sore hands !!


AL

[negative1]

If I paused the game after an hour and took a break to let my hands rest and warm them up by washing in warm water etc. then I likely could return and do that a few times and reach the kill-screen myself. As I stated before my hands cramp up so I just don't have the endurance to do it physically with my hands plus the mental aspect of having to think so clearly as you clear the boards. After an hour your brain starts making mistakes. You giving it a bit of a rest brings you back fresh.

i agree that after awhile, things get hazy
(especially my vision), but sometimes when
i'm playing, i get 'in the zone'..

on the 700k game, i had a good first man,
got to 200k, and then messed up at 220k,
but on the next one, i got all the way up to
600k , and the last one, got to 700k...

so there are times when you really
shouldn't pause..

As QRS stated pausing isn't allowed. You wouldn't be able to pause the arcade game so pausing the mame emulation isn't allowed so your play is more like the actual arcade play...at least I think that's the concept behind it.

Legally, you could get in a sit spot so the monsters loop around and take up to 5 minutes each hour to "rest" then return to the game without pausing it. Obviously you couldn't take any breaks for the super zola-champion edition mschamp variants as they have the 1 minute time limit each level. If you are pausing those after playing so many screens that gives you a big advantage versus others playing it as intended..without pausing.

ok, i didn't know about the pausing, but i only do it
1) going to the restroom
2) when the phone rings
3) some other major interruption

i've been playing games at night, so i
don't get interrupted much...

but then you're right, there are 3 safe spots,
(i'm sure you know these..), do you have
any others?

on the second round of boards..
(obviously you use this when 3 ghosts, red+blue+purple
are above you, i think it works on the other side also)


the third round:
(obviously you use this when 3 ghosts, red+blue+purple
are above you)


and the fourth round:
(obviously you use this when 3 ghosts, red+blue+purple
are to the left of you)

the real skill to those in fast mode isn't so much your skill at the game, although that definitely helps to a significant degree, but your endurance and ability to control ms pac and clear the boards.

In doing runs of pacman and jrpac and ms pac I have yet to even break my personal high scores playing those games at regular speed when playing at fast speed! For many boards, especially pacman the regular speed is actually easier for me cuz of timing issues plus the fact your fingers don't get all worn out so quickly.

How high in score have you gotten without any pause or rest?

all the scores, except for the 700k were done without pauses,
for that one..i think i had to answer the phone, and go
to the restroom, and near the end, my hands were
cramping up..

thats why i don't play it that often any more

AFter I do a run near 300k if I just immediately try and play another game of it I'm lucky if I can even reach the boards where there is no blue time cuz of hand and brain fatigue...while when fresh I reach those boards losing zero or 1 man.

yeah, sometimes, when you're 'in the zone',
its easier to keep playing, then start over
later..

good luck again..

later

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[JoustGod]

May I suggest recordings of this high level be made using TG versions of MAME so as to eliminate any potential future controversy concerning pausing, etc.. An added plus to recording .inps in this manner is that the score will receive proper recognition from Twin Galaxies. I'm glad to see Ms. Pacman finally go to the kill screen. Now it could be a race similar to the competition on the coin-op Ms. Pac to see who can get the highest scoring "perfect game".

[LN2]

The TG tournament/competition version of MAME was never ported to the Mac so that isn't an option for me.

It's why I didn't compete with MAME in the past as competitions were requiring those versions 1.5-2 years ago.

negative1, on the "junior" boards your sit spot is the only safe one I know of, however on the "banana/chase" boards there are several more sit spots than just that 1 you show. The 1 you show is correct where you have the monsters looping above you.

From that spot try this

Right when all 3(hopefully fairly grouped) move up, go to the right and just sit against that wall immediately to your right. When the monsters come around they all will go down the other side of that wall. When they do this go up and to the right and sit to the left side of the top-side inverted U.

The monsters will then come back up the other side of that L and loop into the upper-left energizer area with you sitting in that inverted U.

Before proceeding make sure the blue dude isn't the last one in the group of 3. If the blue is last the blue monster can cut in on you and get you for these moves.

From there try this:

When they have just looped into that, go down the left-side of the monster box, being careful to avoid the brown dude, and go into that middle bottom big area of dots on the left side. as you enter it go down and to the left and sit(not at the total bottom yet) until the monsters make their way down the left side going beyond where they could come into you.

At this point move down so you are at the bottom left of that middle area. The monsters, even including the brown dude will be looping in the bottom-left below the bottom-left energizer.

This is my main move for clearing those boards even at regular speed. It's from this position you also sort of auto-group the monsters to a degree if they weren't already grouped and can learn how to lead them from that position to each of the energizers for the early turn-blue boards.

This works well at regular speed. In "fast" mode it's much harder cuz the timing of moves isn't there. You are moving too fast so end up at spots you wouldn't be at when using normal speed so the monsters don't stay together.

In the "junior" boards for the turn-blue boards I get them grouped circling the monster box and using the sideways L on the bottom side of the monster box to group, then lead them down into that sit spot. From there if the brown dude separation is correct I can lead them to an energizer on the turn blue boards to easily get them all.

On the "they meet" boards, the peach, pretzel, and apple boards, the best sit spot is actually in the right-hand part of the upper side-door on the left part of that right exit side-door. I use that spot to group them as well. As they loop around the big U in the middle, you can move toward the right to lead one of them out of that loop over the upper right entergizer, you move back to the sit spot and they loop around that and rejoin the others.

There are other subtle moves you can do here as well to "adjust" the position of the brown dude. From that spot you can easily lead them to any energizer for easy eating.

Playing the game at regular speed after the apple board I usually have 76000, where I missed 1 monster somewhere, but occasionally can get the perfect 77600. A couple times at regular speed I have had perfect after the banana board which if memory serves me correctly is 121,760.

I had had as much as 145k going into the Junior intermission at normal speed. At fast speed I can't be anywhere near this since the timing to do all that stuff isn't right. I normally only have around 120-125k going into the Junior intermission.

At regular speed after the last board where they turn blue in my prime I typically would have around 230k.

It just illustrates my point that these games in "fast" mode you really don't have to be all that skilled in ms pac to get high scores.

Anyway, try those other sits. Sorry I didn't go get some screenshots for you to see the exact spots. Maybe I'll do that when I play it soon.

I play in macmame but can view those inps in virtualpc on my mac. I have to use a really high frameskip rate though and no sound to even watch them. It's why I don't play in it. I should just go to one of these computer expos and spend $300 and get an "ok" system like a 700MHz P3 or Celeron or something just so for most mame games I could play them on a PC instead.

MARP doesn't seem all too mac-friendly. It's a shame the mac gaming community overall doesn't know about MARP. I had posted in the past there are a few macmame web sites with forums and some scores etc. themselves. I wonder why they haven't found or choose to not participate at MARP?

[sikraiken]

I believe it is more of a they don't want to belong to MARP. But I don't know the whole story, or even if that is the correct answer, so you could ask on the MacMAME boards over at http://www.emuverse.com . I'm sure they will give you an answer.

Of course MARP is going to be more PC friendly than anything else. There are more PC users here, so it's a given. If most people used Macs, then it would be a more Mac friendly place, it's just based on the majority of who uses what, quite unfortunately.

[negative1]

I'm glad to see Ms. Pacman finally go to the kill screen. Now it could be a race similar to the competition on the coin-op
Ms. Pac to see who can get the highest scoring "perfect game".

i didnt check the 844k game, but i'm sure it
got to that also..

as far as the perfect game goes,
thats' only up until the 'no blink' screens,
due to the random fruits..

later

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